Introduction

An unpaid carer is anyone who, outside of their paid employment or formal volunteering, regularly helps, supports or looks after someone because they are living with a disability, a physical or mental health condition, or have problems related to old age – hereafter referred to as a “carer”.

Purpose

Carers may receive support to help with their caring role – hereafter referred to as “support”. This analysis uses data from the Health and Care Experience (HACE) 2025-26 survey to better understand carers’ need for support, what support they currently receive, and outcomes from such support. All references to need, receipt of support and unmet need are self-reported measures, indicated through responses to the HACE survey.

This analysis builds on previous HACE publications, in particular our 2023-24 analysis of self-reported unmet need for care, help and support with everyday living amongst older adults in Scotland.

This is the first analysis to use HACE data for this purpose as such is being published as Official Statistics in Development. We have outlined both the strengths and limitations of our approach in the Data and Methods section.

Defining support types

The kinds of support carers receive could include informal support or formal support. These terms are defined by who this support is provided by as well as the type of the support.

“Informal support” is any type of support provided solely by family, friends and neighbours.

Formal support is support provided by carers organisations, local authorities, Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs), or other third sector organisations.

There are two types of formal support that carers could receive, including:

• “breaks-related formal support”, which is support to allow them to take breaks from their caring role, and
• “non-breaks-related formal support”, which is any type of support that does not include help to take breaks.

This report includes analyses of these different support types. Please note:

• Carers described as receiving “breaks-related formal support” may also be receiving other types of formal support or informal support for their caring roles.
• Carers described as receiving “non-breaks-related formal support” may also be receiving informal support, but do not receive breaks-related formal support.
• Carers described simply as receiving “formal support for caring” includes both those receiving breaks-related formal support, and non-breaks-related formal support.
• Carers described as receiving “informal support only” do not receive any other type of support.

For some carers it was not possible to discern whether the support they received for their caring roles was formal or informal in nature. To address this ambiguity, these carers were excluded from analyses on the types of support that carers received, which are presented in chapters 3, 4 and 5. For more information on how we defined support types see the Data and Methods section.

Carer demographics

We have explored how need for and receipt of support varies by a number of demographic factors, however the factors included in this report are not an exhaustive list. A number of equalities characteristics have been excluded, such as sexuality, as the sample sizes were not large enough to allow for robust analysis.

Defining disability

Scotland’s Census defines disability as: “A long-term health problem or disability is one that limits a person’s day-to-day activity, and has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months. This includes problems that are related to old age.”

HACE asks respondents whether they have “any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expected to last 12 months or more”, and, whether any of these conditions or illnesses “reduce your ability to carry-out day-to-day activities”.

Where a respondent has reported that their ability to carry-out day-to-day activities are limited either “a lot” or “a little” by a long term physical or mental health condition or illness, we have classed these respondents as disabled.

Where a respondent has reported that they have no long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, or where they do report a condition but go on to clarify that it does not reduce their ability to carry-out day-to-day activities we have classed these respondents as not disabled.

We recognise that there are many possible definitions of disability, of which this is just one. We have selected this definition to maintain alignment Scotland’s Census and to increase comparability between this analysis and other similar analyses.

Note on presentation of data

All estimates presented in this report are central estimates that have associated 95% confidence intervals, which provide a way of quantifying uncertainty. For all of the confidence intervals associated with these estimates please see the supplementary tables. More information on confidence intervals can be found in the Data and Methods section.

As the results are estimates calculated from survey data, some of the apparent differences between different groups of people are not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (for more information please see the Data and Methods section).

Where we describe results for different groups as “similar”, the difference between them is not statistically significant at the 95% level. Where we state a difference between different groups (such as higher, lower, slightly higher) the difference is statistically significant at the 95% level.

To improve readability, we have in most instances, not included the confidence intervals associated with our estimates in this report. However, we have included some where we thought it was important to aid understanding of the results.

We have not included descriptors for all comparisons across different groups in the text. This is to keep the text readable and to focus on presenting the main points.

All figures presented in this report show the central estimate rounded to the nearest whole percentage. Where totals for the sum of two categories are presented – e.g. the total proportion of carers who indicated a need for support, whether they got some or not – this is calculated by adding together the original unrounded estimates and then rounding the result. This means that the totals presented may sometimes differ from the sum of other rounded figures presented in the text or in charts.

An Official Statistics in Development Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics in development. Official statistics in development may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice.

Over the next 12 months we will engage with relevant users and stakeholders to understand how they are using these statistics, and whether they provide useful insights. If you have any questions or feedback on these statistics, or would like to be involved in this process of improvement please contact us using the details in Tell us what you think.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.